Try
by curiousscientistkae
Summary: Blake thinks back on before she started to wear her bow and the day she started to. Yang is there to comfort her.


**I haven't written anything in a while so hopefully this is good. I got this idea after I heared the song 'Try', henching the name.**

* * *

**Present**

Blake sits on her bed, all alone. None of her teammates are in the room with her. She doesn't know where they are. Somewhere in Beacon probably. Blake wanted to be alone so she came to the dorm, knowing her teammates will not be back in the room for a while. She just wants to be alone so she can think in peace and in private.

The faunus runs her thumb over the soft fabric of ribbon in her hand. It has been a while since she last let her ears breathe freely. They are sore from being constricted for so long. She only ever lets them be free when she is sure she is alone, and sometimes when her teammates are around. Rarely does she ever take her bow off anywhere else. She can't help it though. When she has the bow on, she feels safe. When she has it off, she doesn't.

Blake kicks herself some days that she cannot bare to have her bow off without fear of being hated. She sees her two friends, Sun and Velvet, walking around without the fear she has. Blake is sure that there are times where the two other faunus are afraid of being attacked, but they don't show it. Sun and Velvet walk around school being proud that they are a faunus. Blake is proud she is a faunus too, but she just has become so sick and tired of being attack for it. For people not seeing her for her—that they only see her for the black cat ears on her head. That is all she has ever wanted. Just to be seen as Blake. Not as a faunus, not as a human. Just Blake. But is has always been like that. For as long as she can remember, people have seen her as a faunus. Though some people don't even see her as a faunus. They see her as something less than human. An animal—a mutt. And that is what she hates the most.

* * *

**Seven years ago**

Blake walks down the sidewalk, her head hung low. School ended a while ago and the young faunus girl is heading home. She is happy that it is over. It is not that she _hates_ school. She loves learning and she being with her friends, however few they are. She just hates most of her class. With the exception of a few, many of the kids in her grade bully her. They push her around, both figuratively and literally. They make fun of her just because she is a faunus. She has grown somewhat use to their attacks. She has learned their path in school, where they walk to get to class. She does her best to stay out of their path. She also has learned when they are more likely to attack her. But today she missed though warning signs that they were not in a good mood. She made a wrong step as well. She walked right into them.

It happened during lunch. Recess to be exact. She was walking around the playground, seeing what there was to do. She didn't realize as she was walking that she was getting closer and closer to the pack of bullies. When she did realize it, it was too late. One of the bullies grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and threw her backwards to the ground. They asked her what she was doing, to which Blake told them she wasn't doing anything. She was just trying to find something to do. The group of bullies started to tell her a mutt like her was not allowed to be on this side of the playground. Blake had tried to fight back, but how can you when its one against five? Beaten, she was forced to leave with her tail between her legs.

Now she rubs all her sore areas. There are a few nicks and bruises from her encounter with the bullies. All she wants to do is to get home so she can clean and patch herself up. She just wants to get home so she can forget. But it is hard to forget when people give you dirty looks and when there are signs all round town saying that faunus are not welcome.

Finally Blake makes it home. Her parents are not home yet. Both work. Blake will be alone for a little while, something she doesn't mind. She can clean herself up, she can make it look as if nothing has happened. Her parents know of the bullying, but no matter what they do they can't stop it. They also probably know Blake is hiding things she should tell to them, but they don't pry all too much. They have been through it as well. They know what she is going through.

Blake walks into her bathroom. She twists the handle of the sink and lets cold water pour out. She gives it a few seconds to warm up before placing her hands under the stream. She starts to wash off her face. After cleaning her face—and clearing her thoughts—Blake starts to wash off her arms and legs. Some of the nicks and bruises still remain, but they are not as visible as before. After cleaning herself up, she looks at herself in the mirror.

Blake moves her ears on top of her head around. As she moves them around, she starts to snake her arms up towards her ears. When her hands reach the top, she cups them over her ears and looks back into the mirror. She knows of some who hid the fact they are a faunus. Those will tail can either hid it in their pants or wrap it around their waist if long enough. Those with ears like her can easily wear a hat or something else to pass as a human. Looking at herself with her hands over her ears, she can see what she would look like if she was human. She has always found it weird that one little thing about her is what makes people hate her so much.

Sighing, Blake removes her hands from her head. She doesn't want to hide, but some days like today makes her want to. All she wants out of life is not to be attacked and pushed around just because she has these ears. That is what she hopes to do. That is what she hopes the White Fang will achieve one day.

* * *

**Present **

The door creaks open. Blake snaps her head up, coming out of her haze of a daydream. She sees her partner Yang walk in. Blake expects her partner to make some sort of comment about her not wearing a bow, but the blonde doesn't. Yang simply closes the door behind her and walks over to Blake to sit down by her.

"Something bugging you?" Yang says.

Blake gives her partner a look. "Nothing is bugging me. I just wanted to be alone for a bit, that's all."

"You know you sometimes suck at lying. I know something is up. You are acting more gloomy than usual." Blake gives Yang another look. "It's true. And you are also much quieter. You know you can tell me anything, so spill. Does it have something to with being a faunus? Is that why you aren't wearing your bow right now?"

"Yeah, you can say that. Ever have one of those days where you just can't stop thinking about something no matter how hard you try, and you don't know _why_ you are actually thinking of it. You just do?"

Yang nods. "Yeah, I do…You're having one of those days?"

Blake replies with a nod. She starts to rub her thumb over her bow.

"Why did you start to wear that thing anyway? Like, I know you wear it because you want to make yourself look human. But, _why?_ If you don't mind me asking."

"It's like you said Yang, so I can look human. I become sick and tired of being treated like nothing. I envied those who could hide being a faunus so they could get away with being a human. I envied those who didn't have to worry about being discriminated against just because they weren't born with an extra pair of ears or a tail. I…I just wanted to fit in for once. I just wanted to feel like I belonged."

* * *

**Two years ago**

The faunus grumbles to herself as she tries for the hundredth time to get the bow right. She has either made it too tight around her ears, causing her a lot of pain, or too loose, causing it to fall off quickly. This time she will get it right.

Blake starts to slowly tighten the knot of the bow. She stops when she thinks it is tight enough. Her ears aren't hurting from the bow, that's good. Blake moves her ears around to see if they will cause the bow to fall off. Nope. Tight enough to stay on and loose enough that it won't give her any pain right away.

_Finally._ Blake thinks to herself. She has finally decide to try and look human, try to blend in. She has finally deiced to hide her faunus heritage. Maybe now she can go around town without any worry. It's a new place after all. No one knows that she is a faunus. No one knows she was a member of the White Fang, the once peaceful group that has now turn to hate. No one knows her as 'Blake the faunus' because people just know her as 'Blake the new girl'.

Blake takes one more look at herself with her bow on before walking out of her house. She wants to see if anyone will realize that she is a faunus. She hopes no one does. She hopes for once she can walk freely around town. She hopes that the bow works.

The faunus in disguise heads to the center of town. So far so good. No one has given her any dirty looks or said anything nasty to her. Blake holds her breath as people past her by, still hoping no one realizes that she isn't actually a human. Still no one does.

Blake walks up to a small café. She had noticed before that the place refused to serve faunus. Just thinking about walking in the café not only makes Blake fearful that people will find out she is a faunus, but also sick to her stomach. Why would she want to go into a store that refuses to sell things to her? Back when the White Fang was peaceful she and others would walk in to make a statement, but now the White Fang destroys places like these. The reason she thinks of walking into this place is just to see if her bow works.

Taking a deep breath, Blake pushes the door open. It chimes as it gets pushed opened. Blake scans the room with her amber eyes. People have taken little notice to her presence. Blake continues to walk into the café and takes a seat. Still no one notices her. Even when the waiter asks her what she would like, no one takes notice into her. People are actually being friendly to her and smiling at her.

_Is this what is feels like not to be hated?_ Blake thinks as she looks down at her cup of tea. _Is this what is feels like not to worry about walking around not and not fearing being attacked? Is this what it feels like to be human? To feel like you belong? That you fit in?_

Blake grips the cup in her hands. She starts to feel some tears fall down her face. Both of joy and sadness. For the first time she has finally felt like she belongs, that there is no need to worry about trying to fit in. But she feels like she has betrayed herself and the faunus. She felt like she had no other choice. Either stay in the White Fang and be hated for it—or just flat out be hated for being a faunus—or leave and try to fit in for once. And all she ever has wanted in her life, is to fit in.

* * *

**Present**

"So ever since that day, I've kept wearing my bow and no one has figured out that I am a faunus trying to pass as a human. Well, besides Sun." Blake finishes her story.

"I've always hated that. Being forced to change who you are." Yang says under her breath.

"Well seeing that everyone hated me for being a faunus and I sometimes feared that I would be seriously hurt or _killed_ because of that fact, I kind didn't have much of a choice!" Blake voice starts to become loud as well as starting to crack.

"Hey, hey, hey." Yang says. The blonde places her hand on the back of her partner and starts to rub her back. "Shh. It's okay."

"Sorry Yang. I'm not yelling at you. I don't know who I'm yelling at. I'm just…I don't know. Angry, upset. There are days I think about how much I don't what to wear this thing. There are days I hate myself that I hide, that I am so afraid not wear this bow. But I wear it. I wear it so people don't hate me. So that people like me for once." Blake buries her face in the palms of her hands. Yang stays silent for a little while, rubbing Blake's back, before she speaks.

"What about you?"

"What?" Blake asks, turning her head to look at the blonde.

"Do you like yourself?" Blake remains silent. "You said you don't like wearing your bow some days. You said you hate that you have to hide, but you do so others can like you. But what about you? If you hate yourself so much for that, why do you do that? You should be able to like yourself for who you are and not be someone you're not to please someone else."

Blake takes a deep sigh. "Yang, I—"

"We all like you Blake. Me, Rubes, Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, and Sun. We all like you for who you are. No one should change who they are for those who don't care or don't matter. You should only change if you think you should for the better. So, do you like yourself?"

"I do Yang. I do like that I am a faunus. I just…I just wish other people liked me like how you and the others do."

"Then why don't you make others like you for you?" Yang looks down at Blake bow and takes it from her. "Make people like you for you Blake. Not 'Blake the faunus' or 'Blake the human', just 'Blake', however you see fit." Yang unfolds her hands, showing Blake her bow.

Blake looks at the soft black fabric in her partner's hands. Should she keep wearing it so she can still blend it but hate herself for it? Or should she not wear it to stop beating herself up but go back to people hated and hurting her for it? Blake thinks before taking the bow.

"Need any help?" Yang asks.

"No. I got it." Blake replies as puts her bow back on with no trouble.

"Can you promise me that one day you'll not wear your bow around town? Not when you or alone or when you are with us. Not when you are going to spy on the White Fang. But when you are out and about. I hate seeing you hate yourself for not being able to. And if you do not wear it, I'll be right by your side to make sure you are okay. And if you want to put your bow back on, even if it is right away, I won't stop you. But, can you one day try?"

"I will Yang. I've always told myself that one day I should stop wearing this thing. One day Yang. I promise."

"Good." Yang places a kiss on Blake's forehead. "I love you Blake, and love to see you be happy."

"I love you too Yang. Thank you."

"Anything for you. Now, do you still want to be alone or do you want to come with me to meet up with the others?"

"I'll come with you."


End file.
